Waiver Wire: Chasing Saves

May 24, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks relief pitcher

Brad Ziegler

(29) throws in the ninth inning against the Chicago Cubs at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

One of the biggest debates in fantasy baseball is the age-old do you pay for saves or not? For those who believe in snagging high tier closers, they are usually set for the majority of the year at their RP positions due to their skill level and draft investment.

But, for those of you that rather take the wait for Saves approach, the position often becomes a revolving door unless you really hit on those mid to lower tier closers. The position is one of the most unreliable in baseball, so no matter what side of the strategy you pledge to, it is always vital to scour the waiver wire for RP options, especially newly named closers.

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This brings me to three guys that could step in your fantasy teams now and either fortify or stabilize your bullpen for the weeks to come.

A.J. Ramos– Now everyone should probably know who this is by now and he should be widely owned across all fantasy platforms, but for some reason he is not. Ramos was recently given the closing job as Steve Cishek has been hammered all year.

Ramos was quietly one of the more electric set-up men in baseball before 2015, as his arsenal includes a high 90’s fastball with an effective slider to boot. Ramos does find himself in trouble sometimes as his command can get shaky, but so far this season that has proven to be very fleeting issue.

Since he has been closing, he is 4 for 4 in SV chances and holds a 1.07 ERA 0.75 WHIP, and 32 K’s. He has been the probably the most reliable pitcher on the team, but the only holding him back is the abysmal team he plays for.

The Marlins are struggling to win games without a doubt, yet on the flip side of that though, you would think that if they are going to win a game it is going to be close, thus allowing Ramos to close the door.

If he is still out there in your fantasy league, snag him now as the Marlins should at least begin to play more competitive ball in the future, and combined with Ramos’s skill it should welcome more SV’s.

Brad Ziegler– I will admit that he is one of my favorite pitchers watch, purely because of his funky delivery and the fact that he has made a career with less than let’s say “overpowering stuff”.

Like Ramos, Ziegler was a quality set-up man who has been anointed the closer job after the initial closer had proved to be liability. Ziegler has stepped in a done a solid job so far this season of filling that void and giving the D’Backs a decent option to close out games.

Ziegler is 3 for 4 in SV chances this year in which he possesses a 1.57 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, and 14 K’s. Now the K’s will always be low as Zielger pitches to contact, relying largely on command and deception, but he has proven the ability to get outs and that is all we need from our closer.

The D’Backs are a scrappy team that will be in plenty of games throughout the season, Zielger will probably have a long leash as well because the D’Backs know that Addison Reed is not the answer. Look for Zielger in your leagues as a cheap and non-flashy closer who can stabilize your fantasy bullpen.

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John Axford– Now before you laugh and immediately close the page, hear me out. Yes, this is the same Axford that once burst onto the scene notched 46 SV’s in 2011, and then imploded the next year and eventually bounced around the league on three different teams since 2013 as he struggled to recapture what made him dominant.

I know he may have burned some of us in the past and that we may swear to never own him again. But, what if I gave you a RP stat line that read, 9 for 9 in SV chances, 0.64 ERA and 1.07 WHIP, since April 28?

Like many fantasy owners we would all jump all over that and buy stock, that stat line belongs to the Axman since he was named the Rockies closer. I did not believe it either until I watched his outings last week and I saw some flashes of the same guy in 2011. He still had the high 90’s fastball and decent off-speed pitches that lead him to success with the Brewers. Oddly though he only has 10 K’s on the year which leads me to believe that maybe he has reworked his approach to not try to blow every guy away with his fastball. He does have a damaged reputation, and he is a highly stigmatized Rockies pitcher, but it is hard to ignore how solid of a job he is doing so far this year.

It also helps that the Rockies are hot now and he has been a big apart of that as he has stabilized their bullpen. This move does take a minor leap of faith, but as we are now in June why not take a waiver wire flier on a guy that could potentially avert back to the upper echelon closer he once was.

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